Harvey's Knob
Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 26, 2011
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 25 157
Bald Eagle 0 25 92
Northern Harrier 0 13 26
Sharp-shinned Hawk 15 579 767
Cooper's Hawk 6 67 106
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 12 12
Broad-winged Hawk 1 68 10226
Red-tailed Hawk 4 107 129
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 0 39 68
Merlin 0 12 20
Peregrine Falcon 0 16 29
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 1
Unknown Buteo 0 0 3
Unknown Falcon 0 1 4
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 4 8
Mississippi Kite 0 1 1
Total: 26 969 11649
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Bill Grant
Observers: Carl Christensen
Visitors:
Carl Christensen from Forest was once again very helpful watching the east
side especially and was with me the whole watch.
Chester Cole and Tom Totten drove up all the way from Marion. They stayed
almost the whole watch, said they were novices so Carl and I indoctrinated
them a little and they were spotting and even identifing birds in a short
time.
Lee and Carolyn Mathena from Cave Spring were with us for most of the
watch and seemed to enjoy their day as was Laura Beltran and her faithful
dog Nimbus (Yea, he looked just like a cloud) from Blue Ridge were also
with us for quite a while.
A couple from near Dover, England also stopped by for a while and in
conversation mentioned that the birders over in their part of England to go
chasing rare birds are called "Twitters".
We hope all of our visitors enjoyed their day at Harvey' s and will return
often.
Cars into the knob today from Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maryland,
Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin
Weather:
The day began nicely with a temp of 55.5 F which seemed much chillier with
the wind out of the W at B3. Throughout the day the barometric pressure
went into a steady drop and we could watch the approaching front to the
west. We reached a high temp of 71.8 F shortly after 1:00 EST and then the
temps began retreating and heavy dark gray clouds began to take over. The
wind varied all day from W to NNW to WSW and finally back to NW reaching as
high as B4 at 9:00 EST. 75-95% cloud cover all day.
Raptor Observations:
All raptors with the exception of 4 birds were on the west side and ranged
from easily seen by eye to very high spotted many with bins.
First bird at 8:57 EST. At 1:17 a very late Broad Wing came over the
parking lot up very high above a group of 4 TV's.
By 3:00 everything had quite flying as the clouds darkened and some areas
of percipitation could been seen off in the distance.
Non-raptor Observations:
Very few small birds in the air today. One very raucous Blue Jay was mad at
something for quite a while. Great looks at a Northern Flicker. Most
surprising 18 monarchs flew over.
Predictions:
Temps from mid-40's to around 70 with a 50% chance of showers , west winds
10-15 with gusts up to 30.
Questionable, may be a few birds with that kind of wind if the rain will
hold off for a while.
Good birding ladies.
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Report submitted by Bill Grant (clarinetman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Harvey's Knob Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://bijame.googlepages.com/home
